Title
Presentation: Continued discussion regarding a new name for the Lee’s Summit Municipal Airport.
Body
Issue/Request:
Presentation: Continued discussion regarding a new name for the Lee’s Summit Municipal Airport.
Background:
A key component of the Lee's Summit Municipal Airport (LXT) Business Plan is strengthening its brand identity. This involves renaming the airport to be more geographically identifiable.
To date, several discussions have taken place regarding the renaming of the Airport. They can be summarized as follows:
• August 7, 2024. Board of Aeronautical Commissioners. Meeting was held to summarize activities to date, and to discuss potential names. The BOAC appeared to hone in on either Lee’s Summit Regional or Greater Kansas City Regional.
• September 24, 2024. Lee’s Summit City Council. The Mayor and City Council directed Staff to draft a Resolution of support for renaming the Lee’s Summit Municipal Airport to the Greater Kansas City Regional Airport.
o The Kansas City Mayor objected to the word “greater” in the proposed name and requested Lee’s Summit work with Kansas City to find a more acceptable name.
• October 11, 2024. City of Kansas City. Lee’s Summit and Kansas City Staff met to discuss the proposed name change. Mayor Lucas reemphasized his concern with the term “greater” in the airport name. Mayor Baird assured Mayor Lucas Lee’s Summit Staff would work with our aviation partners and the BOAC in an effort to consider an alternate name for our Airport that did not include the term "greater" for presentation to the Lee's Summit City Council.
• October 24, 2024. Kansas City Aviation. Lee’s Summit Staff met with Kansas City Aviation to discuss potential alternate names and appropriate naming conventions. The term “greater” was not liked as that inferred Lee's Summit serviced all of the greater Kansas City area. They did request some qualifier before "Kansas City Regional" in the Lee's Summit naming proposals, in an effort to differentiate the airport in Lee's Summit from other airports being managed by Kansas City Aviation.
• November 6, 2024. The Board of Aeronautical Commissioners met to discuss alternative airport names and recommend the following, in priority order:
o Kansas City - Lee’s Summit Regional
o Southeast Kansas City Regional
o KC - Lee’s Summit Regional
• The Mayor and City Council directed Staff to present a resolution naming the airport. Considering discussions and recommendations by Kansas City and the Lee's Summit Board of Aeronautical Commissioners subsequent to the September 24th, 2024 City Council meeting, the airport name described on said resolution is subject to change and may or may not include the work "Greater" in its name. Therefore, the resolution is presented, as directed on this same night of presentation, to be completed by City Council as determined by the Mayor and City Council after presentation of all new information and considerations.
Presenter
Michael Anderson, Deputy Director of Public Works, Operations